Red Cabbage Litmus Experiment
One of the books we’re using as part of our science curriculum this year is Science in the Kitchen by Rebecca Heddle. It explains wonderful, easy experiments using items you have around the house!
We had previously tested acid and bases using testing strips. You can see what we did here.
Last week, we talked about taste buds and did some tests with sweet and bitter foods. Today, we discussed sour things and conducted a test with red cabbage water to see which foods and beverages are acids and which are bases. (The book calls them non-acids to keep it simple for younger learners.)
First, while I boiled water, the girls tore the red cabbage into small pieces and put it into a pot. When the water was boiling, I poured it over the cabbage pieces and let it sit until it cooled off (30-40 minutes). Then, I strained out the cabbage leaves. We were left with pretty purple cabbage water to use for our experiment!
Next, I filled lots of applesauce cups that were destined for the recycle bin with the red cabbage water.
Then, we created a list of foods and drinks we wanted to test. (We didn’t buy anything special—just looked around to see what we had!) The girls made predictions about whether they contained acids or not.
We decided to test lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon applesauce, apple juice, milk, grape juice, apple cider vinegar, salt, filtered water, Coke Zero, and iced tea.
The red cabbage water turned pink when acids were added and stayed purple or changed to a dark bluish-green when bases were added. Some of the foods yielded obvious results immediately. With others, the “answer” became more obvious after it had sat there for a while.
I had the girls check their predictions against the actual results on the chart we made. They were only wrong three times!
We had quite an array of colors by the time we finished.
This experiment was a lot of fun, and the only cost was time and the money I spent on red cabbage!
Testing pH with Litmus Paper – Discussion Questions
- Which substances tested were more acidic?
- Which substances tested were more base?
- Which of the experiment results matched your predictions? Which didn’t?
Here is a how-to video on making red cabbage solution
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More kitchen chemistry resources:
– Amazing Kitchen Chemistry Projects You Can Build Yourself
– Janice VanCleave’s Chemistry for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments that Really Work
– Test for Acids and Bases with test strips
– Testing for Vitamin C using iodine
– Splitting Water into Hydrogen and Oxygen
– Endothermic Chemical Reaction
I hold a master’s degree in child development and early education and am working on a post-baccalaureate in biology. I spent 15 years working for a biotechnology company developing IT systems in DNA testing laboratories across the US. I taught K4 in a private school, homeschooled my children, and have taught on the mission field in southern Asia. For 4 years, I served on our state’s FIRST Lego League tournament Board and served as the Judging Director. I own thehomeschoolscientist and also write a regular science column for Homeschooling Today Magazine. You’ll also find my writings on the CTCMath blog. Through this site, I have authored over 50 math and science resources.